Tumbler Build - For cleaning plasma cut parts.

here is a company that does nothing but work holding products. these would work well on a gantry machine with limited Z clearance. these drop right into the t solt and the back bolt fixes it to the table in the t slot and the bolt with the brass nut is actually on a cam so when you tighten the brass nut section pushes the part to a fixed solid jaw and stop on the table. one of many types of specialized clamps.

Mitee-bite

i plan on making my own t slot table since i have a 5 ' x 10 foot print on my build. my plan was to do it with 1" thick Aluminum so i can get a 3/8 t slot in it and have something sturdy. you can get table top t slot extrusion but it looks to flimsy to me to do the job well. Haas automation makes a gantry mill and on their machine is has a 1" think Aluminum table top on it. i plan on doing mine with 12" wide sections just so i can move it around without anything special. each section will only weigh around 65 lbs so i can move it by hand.

steel would be more durable but then rust could be an issue as a down side. just depends on how much HP you end up with on a spindle? 2 hp or less i think Aluminum would be good enough for a table top as long as it is not the extrusion kind. i think the Haas machines might have a 15 HP spindle and they still use the 1" thick aluminum table top. but i think that much HP on a gantry machine is overkill. they run out of rigidity before HP honestly. the spindle i have is only .8 HP weight has a lot to do with how well things work on the gantry. so making good choices on spindle size will do you well in the end.

what you want is a spindle that delivers enough speed and torque across a wide range of speed evenly. the high speed spindles have a sweet spot and suck on torque every place else.

a lot of people use the 1.8kw servo's from DMM as spindle motors which are close to 2.5 HP but they are only rated for around 3000 rpm. so you have to run them at a 1:2 ratio to get the speed up to a more usable rpm. when doing this you basically half the torque so you end up with about 1.5 HP as a result. the 750 W motors are rated for 5000 rpm and will do 6000 on 240V electric and your at 1 HP on a 1:1 ratio so the gains are not that much for the extra cost for the bigger motor. but the reason for doing it is the wide range of useful speed and torque.

here is a fixed gantry style build. this kind of build would be more rigid than the moving gantry style. 2' x 4' size would not take up to much space and be easy for you to put together i think lots of pictures below to get the gears turning

.www.wadeodesign.com/overview--gallery.html

My main purpose for my machine will be making parts for cycloidal gear boxes. I need the machine accurate for small parts. But I want to make the machine as big as possible to account for future products that I might make.

I also want to build a enclosure to allow for flood coolant like a normal VMC. One day I will build a large gantry machine to machine long rails flat after they have been welded.

And Thanks good pictures really help!

one thing with this build is the lack of E.G. filling the cross beam and uprights would dampen so much vibration compared to the open voids in the tube. added stiffness would be gained as well. another thing is the need for way covers on the table axis. if you had that then closing things in would not be a bad plan. all doable just have to take the ideas a few steps further. the smaller size machines are a lot simpler to keep rigid.

Stefan, the other idea would be to just buy a cast iron frame and finish it off here. Something like this
www.alibaba.com/product-detail/CNC-machi...t.0.0.2a4240f04CPOy1

1200 x 700 x 600 high and 7.5 tonnes of cast iron...

I'd help you with the shipping (well my freight forwarder would)

seems like those run around $18,000 plus what ever freight would cost on something that big? i would think that part would not be cheap either. depends on the budget size for the task?

machinedude wrote:

seems like those run around $18,000 plus what ever freight would cost on something that big? i would think that part would not be cheap either. depends on the budget size for the task?

Not as much as you think to Australia. Its only a 2 week voyage. I got some pricing on a very nice drilling and tapping machine from Hanover CNC in China.
The thought was to use a open top container (tarpaulin covered) to allow for the height. AUD $3k-$4k would pull it up and you could include a lathe in the container at the same time.

The ocean freight component on the last LCL (less than container load) shipment I got over earlier this month was USD $35 but the total bill was about $1700 mostly road shipping at both ends.

I had seen some small cast milling frames but tonight that all I could find. Pretty serious! Its probably not a bad idea really, You would get a fairly cheap machine but retain the ability to set it up the way you wanted. And maintain it!

i would think on something like that you would have the shipping cost to get it into country then possibly freight from port to your shop then some rigging company to actually set the frame in the shop on top of everything?

something this big is beyond the average fork lift you guys have to move sheet stock around or off trucks.

i think it would be cheaper to do something like this rather than spend a 150k or more on a finished machine but i could still see having 50k tied up in it too. we just had to replace a servo on one of the Mazak's at work i was curious to see how big the servo's were on the axis end of the machine and it was close to a 7 HP servo driving the axis

so big heavy cast iron is great on a machining center but they also take servo's on steroids to move that big heavy cast iron around. not cheap so electronic costs can add up fast on a machine this weight.

just something to keep in back of the noodle

My freight forwarder quotes all inclusive ex works in China to my door including all the customs clearances.. If necessary, they would also unstuff the container before delivery cos I don't really have a container set down area.

When I looked a bit further they did have smaller ones. I'd need a new warehouse just for it!

Yes agreed you would have it delivered on a truck with a crane and get a technician to level the machine.. But wouldn't you have fun afterwards!

I've been chatting to another member in New Zealand who has been doing some retrofits using servos costing USD $200 a piece so it might surprise you when you got into it it you bought it in with the spindle..